


Terror

by Nahte123456



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Akumatized Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Angst, Gen, Happy Ending, Horror, Juleka is a good friend, LOTS of Minor Character Deaths, Lila sucks, Minor Character Death, Will be finishing it, was a one shot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2019-11-04 06:30:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17893286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nahte123456/pseuds/Nahte123456
Summary: When enough is enough even Marinette can be depressed, and in Paris that’s all it takes. Now Demon is here.





	1. Demon's Screams

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to make a Akuma-Marinette fic, so here it is. As of right now this is just a quick one shot since I haven’t really thought of any ways to continue it. Also some Mari-Juleka friendship because I needed 1 good classmate for this story and I like Juleka.  
> Also I haven't seen Chameleon all the way through yet, but I know about it and this fic is based during that episode.

Sometimes life sucked. It would always get better but sometimes life just sucked and you needed to be alone and upset for a bit, let everything out, cry or scream or punch a pillow.

Unfortunately this was Paris and Hawk Moth was around, so that was an exceedingly dangerous thing to do, even more so when you were secretly Ladybug who was fighting Hawk Moth. But still emotions could get the best of even the ever-optimistic Marinette, hence why she was in the bathroom of her school, grabbing the side of the sink so hard it might break, seething, growling, and grinding her teeth in a way that was going to make her jaw ache.

Because Chloe was awful for the past week, now Lila was there and was even worse, her friends seem to be turning on her, and Marinette had spent the better part of a year now bending over backwards for everyone, risking her life as Ladybug, and it was all hitting her at once.

Dimly she thought Tikki was talking but she couldn’t make out a single word of it, just trying not to punch a wall or something else stupid, jaw and tips of her fingers starting to ache. She never even noticed Tikki’s sudden shout, or the dark butterfly that came through the wall and into the ribbon on her right.

She did notice the sudden pressure that seemed to it her like a migraine, the pain that lanced through her body, and _something_ was _IN HER HEAD_.

She screamed, although she didn’t hear it, she threw herself back on instinct hitting the stall wall behind her bouncing off onto the ground, although she never felt it, she bit her lip so hard she bled, although she never tasted it.

All she knew was the terrible pressure and that _thing_.

* * *

 

Juleka was looking for Marinette, they had been friends for years, they knew each other’s families and played together, and while she wasn’t exactly sure what the blue-haired girl’s seeming problem with Lila was, she did know that Mari had been on edge since the other girl had shown up, and that Mari had only gotten more and more tense, and now she couldn’t find her friend.

As she was looking though she did find, or rather hear, a sudden feminen scream of pain. Chasing it she came to the girls bathroom, logically she shouldn’t go in there, Juleka had more then enough experience with Paris and Hawk Moth to know that she had no business going TOWARDS a scream, she was at best a liability, at worse she’d become an active enemy to the people that were able to help.

But she was looking for her friend, then heard a female scream, short of knowing for a fact that Marinette(or Rose) wasn’t in there, she was going in there.

And unfortunately her fears were true, as when she got into the bathroom there was Marinette, on the ground, hands on her head, screaming from pain Juleka couldn’t identify any source to.

So she ran to Marinette, grabbing her shoulders, at a loss at what to do, just trying to comfort her friend.

And it seemed to do something, Marinette’s eyes flickered open and she seemed to see her, and although the screaming didn’t stop Marinette did curl into her slightly.

Juleka had finally remembered her phone when suddenly Marinette spoke, or rather her screams became words rather then just senseless yelling.

“TAKE THEM! RIP THEM OFF, JUST TAKE THEM!”

Juleka had no idea what Marinette was talking about, or if it was even to her, but she had to try to make sense of it.

“Mari, Mari listen to me, just listen to me, calm down, I’ll call the hospital, just focus, focus on me.”

Rather then any sort of real acknowledgment Marinette just kept screaming, but at least this time it made sense, if a sick sort.

“MY EARRINGS! TAKE THEM PLEASE! TAKE THEM, RIP THEM OUT, JUST TAKE THEM AND PUT THEM ON!”

Juleka had no idea what to do, but she did know that beyond anything else, she trusted Marinette, more then anyone else, maybe even her family, Juleka trusted Marinette to knows what’s right.

Marinette had given her confidence, been her friend, helped her even against something as silly as her photo curse, even saved her and there classmates from Akuma such as Darkblade. So if Marinette said rip off her earrings, then as sicking as Juleka found it, she’d do exactly that.

She grabbed Marinette’s head, ignored her screams, ‘how on earth has no one else come yet!’, and held her closely, shifting her hands away from her ears to find the earrings, trying to hold Marinette’s thrashing as much as she could.

She reached over to grab them, but they were rather small, especially the backs, and with Marinette’s shaking she couldn’t get a proper hold of them to take them off safely.

She took a moment to wipe her eyes from the tears that were starting to pool, and just whispered “I’m sorry Mari”, she reached down, grabbed the facing up left earring first, and wrenched down, blood splatting on her hand and Marinette’s shoulder and hair.

She held down the sudden urge to vomit, reached down, around Marinette’s head to her right ear that was facing the ground, grabbed it that earring as well, slipped for a second, and with a concious effort to ignore that the blood on her hand had caused the slip, she finally got a hold of the earring and pulled, this one even worse, she was afraid she had ripped off Marinette’s earlobe.

And immediately the screams died down, Marinette was just laying there, shaking, blood dripping from her injured ears, the earrings in her hands felt like they were burning and she couldn’t tell if that was her imagination or not.

As it turned out instead of being a good thing the screams stopping seemed like a bad thing, as after a moment the now familiar purple smoke from a person being Akumatized began to emanate from Marinette, and Juleka scrambled away, standing up, but unable to look away.

As the smoke began to disappear, far slower then normal, she shoved the earrings into her pocket, if Marinette had taken such care of them and taking them away had caused the Akumatization had appeared right after it was best to keep them out of sight, as for putting them on that was another thing entirely, and driven out of her mind as she saw what Marinette had become.

* * *

 

Pain, pain and pressure and that _thing_ was squirming in her mind, but she couldn’t give in, she forgot why she couldn’t give in but she couldn’t no matter how much it hurt, no matter how much that _thing demanded her to give in_.

It took her a moment to become aware that something had changed, not inside, but out, and she forced her eyes open.

Purple, purple and the impression of ‘good’.

Tikki.

No, no Tikki wasn’t purple, this was Juleka.

No Tikki was good though, Tikki was good and she couldn’t let _that_ touch Tikki. Juleka was good, she could get Tikki.

Where was Tikki, what was Tikki? Tiki was...

...

Pain, pressure, _tunneling deeper_.

That’s right, Tikki was her earrings, she had to get Tikki away, Tikki could go to the good thing, she spoke, tried to tell the good thing to take Tikki, even as she could barely get them out and her throat burned.

“TAKE THEM! RIP THEM OFF, JUST TAKE THEM!”

The good thing, ‘ **Juleka** ’ didn’t understand, explain more.

Explain what.

 _Deeper, give in, better place, revenge, content_.

Explain she had to get Tikki away, give Tikki to her, Tikki could explain once she was safe, how did Tikki explain things?

That’s right, put on the earrings and Tikki was happy.

She’d tell the purple Juleka thing to put them on and they’d both be happy.

“MY EARRINGS! TAKE THEM PLEASE! TAKE THEM, RIP THEM OUT, JUST TAKE THEM AND PUT THEM ON!”

Juleka finally understood, holding her closer, moved things ‘her hands’ away from Tikki.

 _Deeper, squirming, into everything, it was all that mattered_.

She didn’t even notice her earrings being ripped out, that pain nothing to the _thing because nothing matters compared to that thing and the pain_.

She did notice as suddenly the pain lessened, the _thing_ was everywhere but less noticable.

Peaceful.

A voice, calm, collected, nice.

“How interesting, I’ve never seen that reaction, but you are strong, I can feel it, and that struggle left you tired, so give into me, and I’ll give you everything you want, and you’ll give me everything I want.”

Of course, why not. Tikki was good, Juleka was good, they were together and that _thing_ ‘what was she referring to again, she couldn’t remember’, couldn’t touch them.

She didn’t talk ‘what was talking’ but she knew he understood, she was his, he was hers, they would both be happy with this.

“Very good, now awaken Demon.”

* * *

 

Juleka shook, just looking at that thing on the ground.

Vaguely humanoid and pitch black was all she could describe it as. As if shadows and ink had been given human form, but then the edges had been washed away so you couldn’t tell where it began and ended. Just the impression of what it was supposed to be.

Then light, she felt no shame in jumping back in shock and more then a little fear, her back against the wall near the mirrors, the door to her side.

Two blue lights, it took a moment for her to realize they were meant to be eyes, if eyes were glass orbs filled with solid blue fire.

And the thing simply floated up, still laying the same position but now at shoulder height. Slowly the thing just rotated until it was right side up, a mockery of a human standing, only one 'foot' was lightly touching the ground, the other leg, or what was supposed to be a leg, curled up.

Blue lights meeting her eyes, shifting to the side, it occurred to her that it was tilting it head in curiosity, although the lights never flicked or gave any other impression of blinking, they simply moved and gave off the bright blue light.

It lifted it’s arms, looking at them as the lights went back and forth, almost in awe.

Juleka had no idea what to do, she had met Akuma before, but most Akuma had a clear role or idea, they wanted something and that’s it, this living shadow was just there, she didn’t know what it did or wanted, but she had no desire at all to call it’s attention to her, her pocket felt like it was burning.

The thing that was once Marinette floated to the side, touching the stall door, then pulling back. It floated to the other side, close to Juleka, and put it’s hand, or where it’s hand was meant to be, on the mirror. It withdrew then touched the sink.

Was it just curious, was it testing something, had whatever happened to Marinette injured this thing making it come out half done or something?

Then it put it’s hand on the sink again, and this time the moment she touched the sink it collapsed, a pile of ash hitting the floor, Juleka had never even noticed the change but where the sink once was, was now a pile of ash.

The thing pressed it’s hand on the mirror, and again the mirror fell into ash between her blinking, but this time rather then the whole mirror falling like the sink, nor just around the shade’s hand, a wave of ash fell down from where it’s hand was in a complex pattern so a detailed butterfly seemed to be just burned out of the mirror, ash falling to the ground.

Juleka couldn’t help the loud gulp she made, it was quiet but the only other sound since Marinette had turned was the ash hitting the ground, and in that silence even the small gulp was clearly heard by both of them, the blue lights swinging around in her direction, stopping at her face.

The thing floated closer, just barely off the ground not a sound heard as it was suddenly there, right in front of her just just barely not touching her.

Juleka froze, she could be brave if needed, but this thing terrified her, and she couldn’t see what she could do that would have even a chance of doing something.

A ‘hand’ rose, touching her cheek. The cool touch cut through her fears, she was still afraid, but what was touching her was clearly a hand, slightly cool like she’d just been holding something cold, but without a doubt a human hand.

And nothing hurt, she wasn’t turning to ash like the sink or anything, those lights ‘eyes she reminded herself, this was Marinette, Akumatized and terrifying, but still Marinette’ tilted in the same half-confused expression as earlier.

She took a chance.

“Mari, it’s me Juleka. Please be alright, don’t hurt anyone, you’ll never forgive yourself.”

The Shade gave no indication it had heard for a moment, then it floated closer, and up, and Juleka felt a pressure on her forehead, a comforting kiss, like her mother would give her when she was sick.

The Thing pulled back, seemingly satisfied, and went to the door, and like some sort of joke someone finally appeared, after all the yelling, trashing, and now the Akuma, someone finally appeared.

A teacher, Juleka barely recognized the woman she taught science to a different class Juleka thought.

Juleka was about to warn the woman, when suddenly that thing was there, in front of the Teacher.

Neither Juleka or the teacher had any chance to do anything, the Teacher couldn’t even jump before the thing touched her.

And where the Teacher had been was a pile of ash hit the ground, along with clothes.

Juleka just stared, not comprehending, she was fine but the teacher, there was a trick, the Teacher hadn’t just, just dissolved into ash, right? There was no way.

As Juleka just stood there to stunned to even show fear, the thing leaned down, a tendril reaching out and sifting through the ash, grabbing the now empty pants, lifting them up and rifling through the pockets, until the abomination found a phone.

The pants were dropped and the monster seemed to poke at the phone as Juleka just watched, unable to move.

After a moment alarms suddenly blared, causing Juleka to jump at the loud noise after all the quiet. She reorganized the sound, the Mayor had put in several alarms around the city meaning that an Akuma(or similar), depending on the alarm it meant the Akuma was in a different place, this particular alarm meant that Akuma was near the school.

Juleka stared at the thing, figuring it out and unconsciously speaking out loud.

“That alarm will cause the school to lock down, we’ll all be locked in at least for minute.”

The creature just stared at her, then put up a small appendage, a mockery of the universal “quiet” sign, then simply floated out of the bathroom, a small sound indicating the door had also been turned to ash.

Juleka’s legs just gave out, she hit the ground. That thing, that thing had just killed someone, and it was going to keep going.

Almost against her will Juleka looked down and realized her hand was open, the earrings suddenly in her hand, she hadn’t even realized she had grabbed them, one of them still had a drop of Marinette’s blood on it.

Mechanically she stood up, turning on the nearest sink, and washing the earrings from the blood.

Marinette had wanted her to put them on, she didn’t know why, but she had already decided to believe in Marinette, even if that thing was there she wouldn’t fail, she wouldn’t.

Her eyes closed for a moment, blue fire appeared on her eyelids causing her to jump back with a little shriek, the earrings stabbing into her suddenly clenched fist.

She took a deep breath in, calm, deep breath out, calm, deep breath in, calm, deep breath out, calm.

She opened her fist, the earrings were silver and clean, her hands were shaking as she lifted one of them, one more time she breathed in, then out.

Hands now steady she lifted her hands, and undid her own earrings, small and simple black studs, left then right, she put them into her other pocket and lifted the silver earrings.

She lifted her hands, and put on the left earring, then the right.

Suddenly a red little bug-thing appeared in front of her to her shock, causing her to fall back.

At the same time a sudden scream, which she easily recognized as Chloe’s from a lot of experience.


	2. Demon's Fun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eh I’m trying to continue this, mostly because I have a rough draft of the last chapter all ready typed so I’m gonna try and get there, but it still may never see the light of day. If you’re reading this then I’m gonna try and continue.  
> Also more people die, like a good number of people, including completely innocent people, Demon is evil and sadistic, this story will have a happy ending but it’ll be a bloody ways to get there.

Chloe was not having a great day, that bitch Lila was stealing attention from her, Adrian was being even more of a doormat then usual, and Marinette had gone who knows where so she couldn’t even fix this, or be an outlet for Chloe’s anger, whichever one happened.

But her day was about to get worse, one of the worst of her life so far in fact, and that started when she turned around.

Chloe was near the door of the classroom talking to Sabrina, class had just been about start again, only missing Marinette, the teacher, and oddly enough Juleka ‘good riddance’ in her mind, when the Akuma Alarm went off, so they were all stuck in there, waiting for something to happen, or for someone to come in and tell them “all clear”.

Some were waiting better then others, like Chloe and Sabrina who were calmly talking. Some weren’t waiting well at all, like Alya who was literally bouncing in her seat flicking through her phone ‘could she get any more annoying?!’, or Adrian who was super tense ‘poor Adrikins’.

But without warning Chloe felt...something, like a hot wind at her back, if that wind was also slimy.

So she turned towards the door and there was this Thing, living smoke and blue fire, just hanging there, so Chloe did the first thing that came to her mind.

She screamed.

Partly because ‘FUCK WHAT IS THAT THING’ even in a life filled with Akuma that was terrifying, but also Chloe knew from experience that she had a rather loud and distinct scream, and there was honestly nothing else on hand that would get everyone’s attention so quickly.

Everyone started, and with movements born out of practice more then thoughts everyone but Lila who just spun around wildly ‘no experience in Paris clearly, always back away from screaming you idiot’ turned towards Chloe and backed away, to see what she was screaming at.

Chloe’s scream finally died down, and with it came eerie quiet as the Thing just continued to be there for a few seconds, before finally floating into the room. It stopped once more and just hung there, looking at them.

No one moved, they all knew how dangerous Akuma could be, and the none of them wanted to be the one to draw it’s attention, for all they knew it would just leave or was looking for something rather then someone, Akuma could be weird and specific at times after all.

So they waited, for almost a whole minute they just waited as the Thing floated in place, it’s eyes ‘ugly color’ just looked in there direction.

Then suddenly like an alarm had been sounded it moved forward, an appendage shooting out and grabbing Lila in the front row by the arm ‘why did she not back away? Not backing up is fine for a newbie, but get away from it at least’, and before anyone could react she screamed.

What looked like black dust seemed to shake off of her ‘that better not be evil dandruff’, and moments after blood just poured out of her in a complex patter up and down her body Chloe, one of the closest by and actively looking for what this Akuma did noticed the ‘ _pattern_ ’ was actually just **liar** written over and over, up and down the girls body ‘that looked painful’ thought Chloe with a touch of real empathy.

And then the Thing just threw Lila at her “EEWWWWWWWWWW” OK so Chloe was trying to be a better person recently, that said ‘really getting a girl I don’t even like, covered in blood, literally thrown in my arms, that’s just disgusting’.

That broke the class out of it’s stupor as the screaming started, and everyone tried to run towards the door hugging the wall, despite her actual desire to just book it as well Chloe began backing up slowly while carrying the bleeding and whimpering Lila with her, Sabrina already out the door.

For a moment the Thing just watched them run, then it suddenly lunged forward again, this time grabbing Mylene by the ankle as the shorter girl tried to run by, tripping her and dragging her back before letting go.

Once more Mylene tried to get away only to be grabbed and dragged, Chloe didn’t know what game it was playing but she couldn’t do anything against this thing, not without Pollen, so she kept going despite how pitiful Mylene looked trying to crawl away from this monstrosity.

However she had a good idea what it had actually been going for after Ivan suddenly ran by her with a text book in hand and swung it at the thing, it turned to that same black dust ‘ash’ she realized, as before, and as Ivan continued moving from the force of his swing he was grabbed by the wrist and lifted up as the Thing floated upwards over Mylene.

“Run Mylene!” was the last thing Ivan said as he to turned to ash, unlike the book though he didn’t completely turn, only the arm it was holding and his torso, the rest of his chunks falling on top of Mylene, who just laid there, looking up, paralyzed and blank faced as her boyfriend’s remains rained onto her prone body, his head hitting her gut.

Even Chloe froze at that gruesome image, glad Lila was more concerned with herself and not looking, the bleeding girl going hysteric is that last thing she needed right now.

But the Thing seemed satisfied, as it suddenly twisted in mid-air before flying away, going right through the wall, when suddenly with a loud **BANG** the room it had just flown into collapsed in on itself kicking up suddenly appearing ash everywhere.

Coughing, Chloe cautiously put Lila down, with the Thing gone as suddenly as it appeared physically hauling Lila out of there wasn’t going to be much different then staying here and calling for help, or rather texting for help, which she rapidly did, the paramedics would be there in minutes.

And she didn’t want to, she REALLY didn’t want to, but she approached Mylene, ignoring the blood and chunks in her way ‘this is what I get for trying to be nice.’ and tried to help the girl, at least getting as much blood off her as possibly if nothing else, starting with the head still resting on Mylene’s stomach.

* * *

 

There was a little red bug-mouse thing in front of her.

Juleka was just kind of frozen there, as if the last 5 minutes weren’t bad enough now things were just plain weird. Normally Juleka was fine with scary and weird, but this was all just to much, way to much and way to quick.

Said bug-mouse thing was floating there, equally unsure what to do, she wanted to help Marinette, and for the good of all Paris she needed to get to Master Fu. Or Chat Noir but the Kwami had no idea where he was. However overloading her only ally at the moment would be very counter productive.

Luckily Juleka composed herself rapidly, her concern for her friend and curiosity over whatever these earrings and bug-thing were overpowering her fear and panic.

“You’re what Marinette was really trying to give me right, not the earrings?”

“Not exactly” answered Tikki. “You haven’t figured it out yet, but Marinette is Ladybug, or rather she was until she gave you her Miraculous, I am Tikki the Kwami of creation, and I’m what makes the Miraculous, well the Miraculous and not just a pretty jewel.”

Oh.

Well in a way that made sense, if Juleka had been going to pick anyone as the most selfless and kind person she knew Marinette would probably be in the top 3 if not outright number 1, and she had known the blue-eyed girl for years and knew better then most that Marinette was almost freakishly flexible and much stronger then her height should allow. So if there was anyone she knew that could match Ladybug’s kindness and be doing Ladybug’s physicality Marinette would probably have been her guess.

“How come I never noticed” she questioned herself more then anyone else.

Tikki’s answer was a deflection more then anything else. “I can explain that, but first I need your help, I have a friend named Fu that I need to get to and tell about Marinette, but I can’t go flying there alone, especially not without my Miraculous, people might see and the Miraculous would be vulnerable. Can you take me, please?”

Juleka blinked for a moment when suddenly Chloe’s former screams were joined by about a dozen people screaming and running out, soon she could hear other classes running around.

“Alright, let’s go I’ll get directions when we’re alone.” she said quickly, grabbing Tikki and shoving her into her pocket before getting up and joining the running around to get outside.

She didn’t have much of an idea what was going on, she was still worried about Marinette, and was worried for Rose, but if all else was failing at least she now had a goal that may help, get this Kwami thing where it ‘she?’ needed to go.

So she waited for a moment by the door as other students ran by, and slipped into the rush, and less then a minute later she was outside among the crowd of students while teachers tried to restore order.

It was easy to get away, she simply backed up to the edge of the crowd by the school, waited until none of the teachers she could see were looking at her, then ran. If any one saw her no one tried to stop her, and why would they people running from crowds caused by Akuma weren’t exactly rare or new, many people saw crowds as just bigger targets for the Akuma.

So she ran for a solid minute, before quickly jumping into an ally, checking to see if it was empty before pulling Tikki out, who looked a bit dazed.

“Sorry for being rough, timing and all.” she said with a wince, she hadn’t meant to just grab Tikki, but she had needed to be lost in the crowd to get away the easiest, especially since she didn’t want her class, wherever they were, finding her and dragging her with them.

“ No problem.” answered Tikki, still a bit dazed but in control before looking around to get a sense of where to go from here. “OK  exit right then cross the street,  go down 3 blocks  straight , there’s a massage  parlor with stone step outside of it and an old man inside in a  Hawaiian shirt  inside, I need you to take me to him and explain what’s going on.”

Juleka blinked, that was far more direct and easy then she was expecting from someone with such apparent importance to this Kwami  creature . “OK massage parlor, stone steps,  Hawaiian  shirt, and I presume I need to make sure no one but him hears?”

“You got it Juleka!” said Tikki happily, glad there weren’t anymore complications happening. Then she flew back into Juleka’s pocket, and after making sure Tikki was there Juleka went off to follow Tikki’s directions.

* * *

 

A ndre  Bourgeois had been having a rather good day with no complications until the Akuma alarm had sounded from the area around his daughter’s school.

H e had talked to the cops who  h ad no idea about an Akuma or any other problem but that wasn’t rare so they were reacting accordingly and sectioning off the area’s around the school and all area’s touching it.

He had finally gotten a chance to call his daughter and after some frantic attempts he had finally gotten and understood she had seen the Akuma, it was one of the extremely rare deadly ones, which was horrible as while Miraculous Cure could heal just about anything as long as it was caused by the Akuma or Miraculous holders  and could even help the more extreme mental issue’s caused by it,  those Akuma were always the hardest to fight, the most traumatizing which wasn’t just blanket healed , and  the most disruptive to day-to-day lives.

He had promptly told his men and gotten word out to the media so Ladybug and Chat Noir could hear ASAP.

Then everything had gone quiet, the Akuma hadn’t been heard since, nothing at all from Ladybug, and only some third-hand accounts of Chat running around.

That quiet was broke n though as suddenly  yelling sounded from out of his room. Experience had taught Andre to run out of his room the moment he heard that, not only was his office to closed off  to escape from the super-natural Akuma but knowing more about the Akuma was only good for him.

W hat he found was a scene from a horror movie, a shadow beast in the middle of a room, his people laying around it in pieces, blood streaked across the ground and walls. The beast seemed to turn to him, if the blue fire points were any indication,  and just looked at him, hanging in the middle of the room.

A ndre didn’t scream, not out of any courage or any such thing, he simply couldn’t get the breath in, and he didn’t run, but again it was because his legs felt numb. The amount of blood he saw was beyond anything he’d seen before even from Akuma.

The beast looked away from him and reached down grabbing something off the ground ‘an arm’, and it was held up before just crumbling to ash. He continued to stare in horror as the beast looked back to him, then held up the hand that had just held the limb, and began to slowly drift towards him  still upright , hand out.

He ran,  he felt no shame in that, he ran. Looking back the beast was still  simply  drifting, arm out.

L eft, forward, right, elevator, he jabbed at the button as fast as he could looking back to where the beast had been, but couldn’t see it following him, the elevator dinged.

However something was wrong as it didn’t open and instead what sounded like metal squealing came from behind the doors, causing him to fall back wanting to escape from whatever was causing that noise but mindful of t h e beast behind him.

Turned out he needn’t have bothered as the doors suddenly collapsed into ash, the beast floating in the shaft, the elevator ropes dangling free above it.

He scrambled back as the beast floated forward slowly, body seemingly stiff as it moved. He finally found his feet again and ran towards the stairs, again the beast was just slowly floating forward in no rush at all.

He ran into the stairway, rushing down the steps barely managing it, falling down the last few steps to the floor below hurting his hip. Scrambling back up he went to continue down but at the bottom of the next stairwell was the beast, just watching him, waiting, it’s deadly arm again outstretched towards him.

He crashed into the doorway back into the hotel proper, ignoring some serving boy on his way as he ran, to the stairway on the other side of the building, having 2 staircases in the building had seemed like overkill at times, but he was thankful for it today.

Crashing and bumbling around he made it to the other stairwell and down the stairs without further incident, however when he reached the bottom and came out he found another horror scene, blood and body pieces strewn across the floor, even more disturbingly was there was a clear path free of blood or bits curving down the middle from the stairway to the door out, as if inviting him.

Before he could freeze again though there was a small noise of what sounded like powder hitting the ground causing him to whirl around to see the beast there, just a few feet behind him, arm out, coming for him again.

He managed to scream this time as he ran following the trail, the beast  disappearing from is si gh t almost immediately.

He reached the front door quickly, meeting no one else as he burst out, news crews gathered outside waiting for word from him, they started as he burst out, getting up to start asking questions, camera’s already rolling, before they realized something was wrong.

Then a pressure on the back of his head, a hand, he glimpsed blue fire over his shoulder, his entire body tingled except his head, and he knew no more.

He never saw his body collapse to ash.

He never experienced the sight of the beast holding up his head like some garish trophy.

He never heard the panic as all the crew people ran away.

He never witnessed the beast drop his head and grab some random person out of the crowd, then throwing them into oncoming traffic hitting a cars front window and causing it to careen out of control hitting a building near by in a great crash.

He never watched the beast shake, head thrown back, a mockery of laughter, as everything around it descended into chaos as people tried to escape, arms out as if embracing it all.

He never felt his hotel fall, as the beast floated back and touched it, mass chunks turning to ash as the entire thing fell down causing a great crash with a ton of ash being blown everywhere and who knew how many deaths and how much damage.

And he never realized the beast had just disappeared in the crash and explosion of ash, to who knows where, leaving destruction, death, chaos, and ash in it’s wake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright that’s chapter two I guess. Originally I was going to do 2 more parts to this chapter, Juleka meeting Master Fu and then Demon’s next attack(have that fully planned out and a bit of a cliffhanger), but after looking at this chapter’s size and how much trouble I had writing it I’ll instead post this as is and just make that it’s own chapter, or at least most of a chapter.  
> And really my main problem was the Juleka-Tikki part, the rest of this I belted out in like 3 hours, 4 max, but I just couldn’t do the Juleka-Tikki part. I want them in character, but I also want them to be panicking because this is a horrible situation. That being said neither Juleka or Tikki are known for panicking so I wasn’t sure how to capture that, Juleka tends to be one of the calmer classmates and likes scary and cool, and Tikki is the voice of reason to Marinette’s drama. Then that sapped my motivation so I took a bit off and started my Marichat series, but I came back and finally did it.  
> That being said though I really like the Andre part, I just felt like I got what my idea was into words almost perfectly, how good it is I don’t know but at least as far as thought-to-page, perfect.  
> Feedback is appreciated, especially about Juleka and Tikki as those two(and Fu) are going to start next chapter so I want to know if I got them well enough or how I can improve them.


	3. Demon's Lesson

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3, where the plot kicks off a bit more beyond just “Marinette is Akumatized, she must be stopped.”  
> Also when I first started writing an actual story like this I didn’t think I’d re-read the previous chapters so much, but I really want to make sure I don’t screw up anything I already wrote by forgetting something obvious.

Juleka hoped she had the right place as she walked through the door, it was the only shop she saw and it had the right steps outside of it. She was slightly more heartened when she saw an old man with the right shirt in the front, reading the newspaper.

“Um sir, I’d like to speak to you.”

He folded the paper and looked at her “I am always willing to hear out a potential customer, but I can’t say you look like the type.”

“No sir, a friend sent me, Tikki.” with that Juleka brushed back her hair to show him the earrings. This felt more movie spy then she’d like but she also had no idea if there was anyone else around or even was entirely sure he was the right person so she was trying.

However it seemed all was well as the old man looked at the earrings for a moment then nodded and stood up “Go through that door and wait by the table, I’ll close up and make some tea.”

“Um Sir, this is kind of urgent.” did he not understand what it meant that she was here? But the solemn look on his face suggested otherwise.

“I understand child, I understand perfectly, far more then you I suspect. And that is why we do not have the time to waste rushing. Sit, wait, collect your thoughts, both of you, I will be there soon to listen.” Juleka hadn’t even noticed Tikki flying out of her pocket but when he said ‘both of you’ he sent a stern look to the red Kwami who seemed to be more frantic now that Fu was here.

Cowed by this and at least partially understanding what he meant she went to do as told, going into the other room, getting comfortable by the table, and waiting. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths, focusing on what had happened not wanting to miss anything.

After a few minutes he came back with a tea set on a large plate in hand, set it down, sat across from her, and poured them both cups.

He took a sip and then spoke “My name is Wang Fu, the Kwami tend to call me Master Fu. To review what I know there is a Killer Akuma out there according to the news, hidden from sight at the moment, you have Ladybug’s Miraculous so either the Akuma is Marinette or killed Marinette without knowing who she was, since you knew to put on the Miraculous I assume the former. So please, introduce yourself and tell me your story.”

Juleka nodded, this much she could do confidently “I’m Juleka Couffaine a classmate’s of Marinette’s. She was having a rough day today, especially with this new student called Lila Rossi, so she, Marinette I mean, she went off alone to cool down. I was worried for her so I went to find her and heard screaming. I thought it might be Marinette so I ran to it and found Mari thrashing on the floor screaming in pain, she told me to take her earrings so I did and after that she turned into an Akuma.

She looks like a 3D shadow with blue eyes, and can turn thing into ash by touching them. She was, I don’t know, experimenting for a minute when she noticed me, just touching things sometimes turning them to ash sometimes not, but she didn’t attack me, she was actually rather nice, but then a teacher came in and she turned the teacher to ash before setting off the Akuma alarm to trap the school.

I’m not sure what she did after that, although I did hear Chloe scream. I just put on the earrings, and after a little bit and some talking with Tikki we got out of there and Tikki sent me here.”

Juleka took a deep breath after all that talking, she didn’t normally talk that much, and then took a sip of the tea he had poured.

Fu had his eyes closed, nodding and rubbing his chin, Tikki looked like she was vibrating in place wanting to talk but she kept herself in check.

“And how did you get her earrings?” asked Fu, eyes still closed.

“What?” said Juleka not understanding why he’d focus on that of all things.

“The earrings were in Marinette’s ears, and as you described the situation I doubt Marinette was able to cooperate with you and hold still. So how did you get them out?”

Juleka felt sick just thinking about it, blood, MARINETTE’S blood, and from what she did. She didn’t want to talk about it, but Fu was waiting patiently for some reason, so she forced the sudden rise of bile in her throat and tried to keep the quiver in her voice as small as possible.

“I ripped them out sir, Mari seemed really intent on me taking them so I grabbed them, and pulled.”

Fu nodded like she had just confirmed something for him when suddenly what looked like a green Tikki flew out from the next room, another Kwami she guessed.

It spoke “Hello Ms Juleka, I am Wayzz” it ‘he’ said with a small bow before turning to Fu and speaking again “Master I understand your desire to avoid rushing, but some urgency would be nice.”

“Calm yourself Wayzz, you know jut as well as I that panic is the greatest enemy one can have in trying times. I have never heard of such a reaction to the Butterfly’s Akuma and was merely exploring all possibilities, the last thing we need is to misunderstand.”

Juleka seeing her chance for answers and to move the conversation forward cut in “Do you know why Marinette seemed to be hurt by the Akuma? I’ve seen people be Akumatized before, and I was Akumatized before, but I’ve never even heard of anything like this.”

The two Kwami were silently looking at Fu, whether for answers or just confirmation she didn’t know.

Fu waited a beat before speaking “Everything has magic, from the ground to people, it’s just to small to do anything. That is in essence, what a Kwami is, all magic from a single idea personified, such as Tikki here, she is every time something was created, that magic it gave off, personified into what you see next to you.” Tikki and Wayzz seemed impatient but she was fascinated, she understood they should probably hurry but this was enthralling, and hopefully did have a point.

Fu continued “When a human fuses with a Kwami using a Miraculous as the catalyst the magic that Kwami comes from flows into them, turning them into the super-humans you’ve seen, it makes them stronger, protects them, hides there identity from direct connection, and so on. And as this happens again and again, over time that human’s natural magic rises and shifts to match the Kwami’s.

So what I believe happened was that Marinette, who already has more magic then your average person combined with Creation for so many months, subconsciously used her own magic to fight the Akuma, but in the end it wasn’t enough so she began to call on her Miraculous to absorb any magic she could to help. However in the end it just wasn’t enough, so the two were locked in an unending conflict until you took away the Miraculous she was using to draw in magic.”

Juleka looked down, if that was true then “I let her get Akumatized?”

Fu shook his head calmly, taking a sip of his tea “No Juleka, in the end there is no way young Marinette could have won, she had no idea what she was doing while the Akuma was made to change her. I would say instead you were a great help, by stopping the match half way the Akuma was ill-prepare and not ready to assume control, which is why she had to, as you say, experiment, what other effects it had I do not know, but I can scarcely imagine they will do more harm then good.”

Wayzz interrupted impatiently “Master, please stay on track.”

Fu surprisingly looked hard at Wayzz and spoke calmly “Hold yourself Wayzz, I do have a plan, and a reason for this talk.”

Tikki seemed to explode at that “A plan! Please tell me we can start it now!”

Fu stayed unflappable “I understand your worry Tikki, but please do not make me repeat myself when I say we do not have the time to rush.”

Fu stood up, “one moment if you please everyone.” and with that he walked out of the room. Juleka sipped her tea again, mind whirling, why tell her this, what was his plan, what was Marinette doing now, had she actually helped her friend, what would she do next.

Neither Tikki nor Wayzz seemed much calmer then her, but they also both seemed to have more faith in Fu then she did.

Fu walked in holding a plain brown paper bag in his hand, sitting down once more and taking the last sip of his tea before speaking again.

“Now what happens next all relies on you child.”

Juleka blinked, he had to be talking to her, but she had no idea what she could do. “Me sir? What could I do.”

He smiled kindly at her “Why, everything, in some ways you are the person most in control of this situation, or rather you and Hawk Moth. You not only have the Ladybug Miraculous, and I have no way to wrest it from you in my advanced age, but I also do not dare leave this shop right now, if Marinette were to find me and relay my importance to Hawk Moth then it very well may be all is lost to him.

If we are to do anything then either I must rely on you and your courage in the face of Hawk Moth and his Akuma, or my only other option is to personally call the other 3 heroes and pray they can defeat Marinette, give her her Miraculous before the Akuma escapes and makes many of these murderous shadow creatures, that Marinette is aware enough to purify the Akuma, and that Hawk Moth doesn’t see or realize Marinette is Ladybug.

And this is also assuming you don’t decide you’d like to take that Miraculous and simply run away or attack me and take whatever you wish.”

Both Tikki and Wayzz looked shocked, in there panic neither had even thought that Juleka would not help.

Juleka for her part felt like she was struck by lightning, she had assumed her part was done, take the Miraculous to this man, give it over, then walk away and talk to a healed Marinette later. The thought of MORE, of being trusted by something so big, of possibly facing Marinette again.

It terrified her.

Juleka liked ‘scary’ things, she was the person in her family and friends that loved horror movies and slashers, she’d actually gotten a bit of a kick out of Horrificator. But this was different, this was real, with people being hurt and dying and the only thing that could make it better was Ladybug, the earrings she wore. This was pressure and people relying on her.

But...

But Marinette, Marinette had been going out of her way to help people, had helped her, her family, her friends, her city. Sweet Marinette who had been bullied by Chloe for years purely because she didn’t like to fight and had confidence problems.

Marinette had stood up for them, and had held out for months without getting Akumatized despite all that pressure.

Could she fail Marinette? Oh she knew Marinette(and Rose and Luka) would have shot that down right away, that this wasn’t a ‘failure’, she had no obligation to do this and was just a normal, scared girl.

But SHE would consider it a failure. If after everything Marinette had done for her, broadly as Ladybug, personally as her friend, and generally just because she was there, if after all of that Juleka didn’t do everything in her power to repay that.

She would be failing Marinette.

**CRASH!!!!!! WHOOOOOOOOOSH!**

Juleka, Fu, and both Kwami all jumped at the sudden incredible sound of something very large crashing and the following sound of a great deal of dust or something similar being thrown around.

“What was that!?” shouted Juleka in fright, to much, just to much for her all at once.

Fu, more lines on his face but still by far the most in control person in the room, had his phone out and was already tapping at it.

“One moment let me get up the news. Ah, it seems we have found and then lost Marinette. Mayor Bourgeois seems to have been attacked and had his body, sans head, turned to ash, she then attacked some random passerby to cause chaos and collapsed the hotel by turning large parts of it to ash, causing the rest to come falling down. She then disappeared and the number of casualties isn’t known but is expected to at least be above 200.”

Tikki froze in mid-air, Wayzz floated to the table and sat there, Juleka’s mouth was open wanting to talk but having no idea what to say, and Fu looked older then ever.

Juleka found her voice rapidly though “You want me to go against this? Not just Marinette but evil Marinette?”

“Focus yourself Juleka, while I understand your fear running will not help. Be courageous.” Fu said calmly.

“Courageous, I was never brave! I’m scared. This is Marinette, people are dying and I’m just Juleka.”

“You are Juleka, and you are scared, but pardon the old quote, bravery is not the absence of fear, it’s overcoming it. You were scared of Marinette screaming on the ground, you were scared of hurting her, and scared of messing up, yet you have her earrings, you helped Marinette, and you stalled Hawk Moth. You are still scared yet you ran here, with no idea of where Marinette was nor what dangers having Tikki may bring you. Fear has not stopped you so far, I simply have hope it will not stop you now.”

Juleka stopped, she simply didn’t know what to do. She had to admit she felt touched, this man, basically a stranger, was resting his hopes on her, not to mention Marinette had given her Tikki, she didn’t know what state of mind she had been, but still Marinette had relied on her. And she wanted to help, she truly did.

But she was scared, of Marinette, of letting people get hurt, of failing.

Fu seemed to ignore her sudden silence and continued speaking though “That being said while I suppose it is possible you’d have to fight, and with the circumstances I don’t think Tikki will argue to much this 1 time, what I’m asking is not that you fight. No rather what I want is for you to be my messenger.”

“Messenger?” she parroted, not having expected that type of request from this conversation.

“Yes messenger. Again I can not leave here, if I am recognized this all becomes much worse, but you can. As long as I am here at the very least I have the very real option to run, I know the area very well after all and all my valuables are within reach.

In this bag are the Bee Comb and Fox Necklace Miraculous, and before you leave I will add in my own Turtle Bracelet Miraculous. I will tell you who Rena Rouge and Carapace are, and you already know Queen Bee. Tell them the truth or a lie, we do not have time to be picky whichever one you think you can work best. Then you may return here and we wait for further use.”

Juleka stared at the bag, such a small innocent bag and in it 2 immensely powerful magical artifacts far beyond her.

“And that’s all?” she asked uncertainly.

Fu nodded “That is all I will ask of you.” he confirmed. “But first, through that door” he pointed “is my kitchen with some snacks and breakfast bars and the like, further on is a light blue door, that is the bathroom. You have had a long day, and it will only be longer, I suggest you prepare.”

Juleka started to shake her head but Fu interrupted her “Go, at least try to take a bite of something and splash your face with water.”

She finally nodded and left, the last sip of her tea forgotten.

As she left Fu watched her go, as did Tikki and Wayzz. Once the door had swung shut behind her Tikki exploded “Master what are you thinking! Pushing work onto her, and suggesting she be Ladybug!”

Wayzz jumped in “While I understand your points Master I must agree, you are relying on an unknown girl for a very dangerous task, this is not a smart gamble Master.”

Fu nodded tiredly, now that the child was gone he was much more willing to show haw worried he was. “You are both correct, however you are so focused on the forest you’ve forgotten to look at the trees.

There are dozens of factors we have no control over, many of which can turn against us. If I were to, as you say, just do this as myself and try to get everything to go as I plan, then yes I could limit these factors a great deal, but they’d still be everywhere, out of my control. For instance what if Juleka comes across one of the heroes and tells them the wrong ting and they get sloppy? Or what if they are leery of me, a man they do not know, and the 3 do not trust me? What if I am recognized?

By relying on Juleka I’ve cut down many of these factors into 1, Juleka herself. Do her friends trust her, what will her informed decision be on what to tell them, will she fight? She has already shown she’s willing to go outside of her comfort zone when she ripped the earrings away, and Marinette must have trusted her at least a little to recognize her to any degree when in such pain.

As I told young Juleka, rather then try to frantically control everything, I am resting my hopes on her, a child who’s been brave, that Ladybug trusts.”

The Kwami shared a look, still unsure but they bowed to Fu after a moment. After all there is a reason the Miraculous didn’t simply govern themselves and instead had Guardians like Master Fu, they weren’t human and could be to rigid. Sometimes humans simply understood things they couldn’t.

Fu spoke again once it seemed they would agree with him “Wayzz my old friend, you understand what comes next.”

Wayzz nodded and said “Yes Master” and with that Fu undid his bracelet and dropped it into the bag with the Comb and the necklace. Normally they’d all be in there boxes but Fu wanted to make sure Juleka didn’t get confused which box was which, so he had simply dropped them as-is into the bag. Not the most respectful way to carry the Miraculous but needs must.

“And Tikki, as I told Juleka I will not ask her more of her, but I do hope she will fight as needed, and if she does?” he let the question linger for a moment.

Tikki sighed and nodded “I don’t like it but if I have to she’ll have my full support.”

He nodded “good, then all that’s left for us to do is rely on this young lady.”

As if summoned Juleka walked back in, hands washed and taking the last bite of a granola bar before trowing the wrapper into a nearby trash.

She nodded to Fu “Thanks you Fu, you were right I did need that.”

“Very good child, now I will tell you that both of the Miraculous users are your friends, Rena Rouge is Alya, and Carapace is Nino. So getting them alone should be fairly easy for you.” he handed the bag to her.

Juleka blinked, of course Marinette would choose Alya, the fact that wasn’t her immediate first thought after being told Marinette was Ladybug was almost embarrassing. Nino was a bit more of a stretch but not by much.

She took the bag, it wasn’t very heavy but she’d swear it felt like it was filled with solid gold.

Fu led her to the door as Tikki once more flew into her left pocket, opposite the pocket she held her phone in, she got out onto the stairs with the door still open when he called quietly to her “Ah, just in case you feel you have no other choice, focus on the Miraculous and say the right phrase and you’ll transform, I believe the current one for Ladybug is ‘Spots On’. Good luck.”

Before Juleka could truly understand the enormity of that rather short sentence Fu was already gone, door closing behind him with a small sound.

* * *

 

Here.

Pain came from here, destroy here.

“Yes, draw out Ladybug and Chat Noir, have them frothing to attack you, make them sloppy.”

Her Voice agreed, good Voice, her Voice, punish bad things here.

Entrance, Ash.

“!&#%@$(&!@” noise.

Noise from large person-thing, dark skin, not as dark as her. Arm swung, to Ash.

“*@^!@%&$@” two noises, other room, go to.

2 little person-things, identical. Look at her, screamed, annoying.

Catch them, hurt them, hurt the Pain that hurt her.

Not to Ash, to quick, hurt them, HURT PAIN.

Caught one, other ran, kicked sit-thing at door, trap other-him.

Caught-thing, thrown onto table, noise up, grab carry-thing, put on arms, trap.

Go over, other-thing almost out of building, caught, kicked, doesn’t matter.

Next to Caught-thing, shift carry-thing, trap both.

“!$^@!%#*&$($(*!#%^!%$%@!&#*!$#%!$#!^%” noise from both little-things, loud noise, unstopping noise, STOP NOISE!

Raise, top.

Turn top to Ash, building falls, crushes them, lots of blood, Pain will see, Pain will hurt, then Pain will join.

Ah!

Shoulder hit, pushed back, back hit wall, wall to Ash, place falls.

Stop.

New-thing, over little-things, shiny stick from it to her, hit her, not Ash.

“That is Chat Noir! Take his Miraculous, the ring.”

Black-Target then.

Kill Black-Target.

Take from Black-Target, round thing on hand.

“@$%%#@#$%^&*$%^&*(!@^” Black-Target made noise to little-things, the two ran.

Catch later, hurt later. Black-Target now.

“!@^$@($@&@!%$@$@” noise at her, why?

Doesn’t matter.

Upright, down.

Black-Target, dangerous.

Then trap.

Ash floor, blind, dodge counter, grab, if miss hit wall, drop on.

* * *

 

Chat was running as fast as he could. Ever since seeing the Akuma as Adrien earlier he’d been trying to find it again but always seemed one step behind. And despite frequent calls and texts he had heard nothing from Ladybug, or any of the other Miraculous Holders for that matter.

But now he had a lead on the Akuma, he had been monitoring social media and news sites with his baton, the magical instrument allowing him to find, track, and be alerted to new information faster then anything but those most powerful super-computers, and with far less rigidity. And he’d just found a post on Twitter of all places with the Akuma going down the street right ahead of him.

An extra long jump rocketed him over the block in front of him, landing on the desired street. A quick look around and his cat eyes immediately picked out the 1 house without a front door, with a sick feeling he realized it was Alya’s house.

He ran inside hearing shouting, immediately taking in everything as he ran into the room, a pile of ash in the corner, the twins pinned onto the kitchen table by a large counter on there wrists, the Akuma floating above them reaching to the ceiling.

He didn’t think, his baton was in his hand and extending between heartbeats, hitting the Akuma square in the left shoulder sending it rocketing back through the wall, said wall turning to ash as it hit her back.

However that was to much for the house to take, or at least that part of the house as it caved in. Jumping forward he used his body to shield the kids, wincing as debris fell onto his back, the air heavy with dust.

His baton returned to normal size as he quickly spun it to clear the air. He noticed that the Akuma was just hanging in mid-air, having just stopped in the middle of being thrown away, arm out and legs half tucked in, like it had just paused mid flight. The corner of the house had fallen from him throwing the Akuma into it but the rest of the house was standing and none o the surrounding area was damaged.

He easily threw away the counter, grabbing the crying kids, there wrists were red and one of there left wrists was bleeding a bit, but nothing looked broken which was good.

He dropped to one knee and quickly thought of where to send them, they can’t stay here, there parents and Alya were out, and he was determinedly not focusing on the fact that Nora had been meant to watch them and there had been an isolated pile of ash in the kitchen. So where was close by with people he could trust with these two to?

“OK kids, you’re Alya’s sister’s right?” They both nodded tearfully. “You remember Marinette? You know her house?” Again they nodded “OK run there as fast as you can, talk to Marinette’s parents and only those 2 got it?’ One last time they nodded, he patted them on the back pushing them towards the door. “OK go, go!”

As the two girls ran away he looked at the Akuma, which was still just frozen in the air. “Hey Shadow, hows the air up there?” he quipped half for his own nerves half hoping for some reaction.

The only reaction he got was the thing slowly righting itself then floated down to the ground, hovering there. Blue balls pointing in his direction, they were a pretty color but gave no indication what the thing was actually looking at.

Suddenly the Akuma crouched down hand touching the floor, the ground around the Akuma turned to ash, but rather then just falling it went towards him like some wind had blown it.

He was blinded, his eyes burned, but he wasn’t helpless, his baton lengthened to near twice its normal size as he swiped through the as where the Akuma was, he didn’t hit anything but his ears twitched at the sound of something rubbing against the floor.

“Dodged below’ he thought jumping back to avoid where he thought the thing was aiming for, feeling the still settling ash swirl around a disturbance, he’d just barely dodged.

But the Akuma seemed to keep going as he heard the sound of the house falling around him, the Akuma must have kept going until it hit the wall and turned the entire support to ash. ‘Trying to trap me with the debris while you turn it to ash if it touches you, then catch me as I struggle out of its sheer size. Clever, I’ll have to brute force it’.

Rather then stand there like his eyes wanted he ran forward, shoulder out ramming everything in his way, the house was falling on him hitting his shoulders and back, but his super-human strength combined with his momentum was to much to be stopped.

He blinked, vision rapidly returning, having super-eyes was pretty great.

A dark shape rushed towards him, the Akuma. This time he jumped right up and swung his baton down, the Akuma dodged to his left, so he extended the baton a bit more to dig into the ground and caught himself as it stuck, elegantly pulling himself on top of it, before jumping off on the opposite side of the Akuma, baton shrinking to it’s normal combat size.

The Akuma sent another wave of ash but this time he was ready spinning it away with his baton, the Akuma floated over him though and tried to drop on top of him, he swatted her away with his baton though.

‘I’m starting to get the hang of this, it’s surprisingly fast when it wants to be but moves slow in general, it can turn things to ash by touching them with it’s hand but not my baton, and when it turns things to ash it has a split second where it can direct where the ash goes, not much but enough to distract and blind.’ he analyzed. But he couldn’t help but feel there was more to it, this Akuma was tricky, trying to blind, trap, then trap him again all in one sequence, then attacking from above to try and catch him off guard.

His eyes were back though so he got into his fighting pose with his baton out front and taunted it “Come on ugly, let’s dance.” then swung up at the Akuma.

It dodged again but this time he followed with a diagonal sweep to the shoulder only for the Akuma to float under it and fly towards him arm outstretched. He ducked and as his baton shrunk again he spun it up using the butt of the baton to push the Akuma away from him without directly touching.

The Akuma stopped in mid-air again, righting itself and facing him before just charging him trying to shoulder tackle him, he dodged to the side but the Akuma shot out its arm to grab him, he only barely got the baton in the way first, being pushed back as the Akuma grabbed the baton at its middle, but he twisted them around until his chest was to her back and he did a cartwheel, stopping half way trying to drop it on it’s head.

The Akuma stopped tough and flew upwards while still upside down and holding his baton dragging him along. He let go of one side of baton, grabbing the other, and using it like a bat to slam her into the ground, the ground turning into ash to cushion the impact.

He jumped back but it followed still close to the ground. It got close and he barely dodged it’s hands only for its foot to lash out, on instinct her used his baton to slap her foot to the ground, ash circling it’s foot.

‘OK not just it’s hands that can turn things to ash, that was close’.

Chat jumped back trying to get a breath, panting harder then he could remember panting in weeks, on the other hand as the Akuma floated back to its upright position, didn’t seem any worse now then when he had appeared.

With no warning though the Akuma shot up a few inches as if startled, then twisted away from him and flew into another house nearby causing the entire thing to collapse on top of it half in ash.

Chat was frozen for a second waiting for another attack before realizing whatever trick this was it wasn’t an immediate attack and followed trying to find the Akuma.

He heard moaning and went to go check, finding a young man under some beams, hurt but alive. “Sir can you hear me?”

The man looked at him blearily but got out “Yeah I can, I think I need help though.”

“I’m on it.” he had no idea where the Akuma had gone, so he quickly called the hospital and got all the wood and ash off the man, carrying him to the sidewalk safely.

Still no sign of the Akuma, but he’d find it again, hopefully after he found the still MIA Ladybug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kept getting distracted from writing this, but once I actually started I got done real quick. This chapter was much easier then the last.  
> And I liked how Fu came out, the Demon part was fun, and Chat was decent. I think the Demon part was my favorite writing simply because I enjoyed exploring how I thought of it more, it is not all there, doesn’t really get names or talking, but it’s clever and evil. And if anyone missed it, when Demon refereed to “Pain” she was talking about Alya, her classmates who hurt her are all just “Pain” to her. That being said from a story point I think Fu’s part came out the best, giving more character development, how I’m viewing the world working for this story, and Juleka’s immediate goals now although it does feel a bit rushed. Then again considering the circumstances rushed may be a good thing.  
> Also I got half way through Chat’s part before remembering that we’ve seen Alya’s house in the show and it’s an apartment on the top floor of the building, but whatever not a big change, they’ve moved into a nice house or something since then, whatever.

**Author's Note:**

> Eh may or may not continue this, but don't count on it, if I do continue it Juleka will put on Tikki, go to Master Fu, and join Chat, Rena, Carapace, and Queen against the destructive, sadistic, and very intelligent Demon. The ultimate end may or may not have Juleka getting her own Miraculous as thanks.  
> Also the earring ripping ended up more intense then I intended, as did Juleka's devotion to Marinette, but it worked well enough. And I tried to escribe Marinette's Akuma form to match Juleka's perception, so when Juleka is thinking right it's just a Shadow Of Marinette, but when Juleka is really scared it's some abomination without hands or anything else human.


End file.
